Not exactly....Credo en un dio crudel somehow makes Iago and his actions more credible. A similar sililoquy in the play might have worked, I don't know.

As for "Wives" (the play) Vs. "Falstaff" the opera...I don't know how to explain it but I have listend to the recording over and over, and watched at least one production on stage more than once including a couple of rehearsals....but I find the play a little tedious. The Hern's Oak scene, for instance, is just so much better in the opera...

I read once that some 17th century Italian came on a Shakespeare work, couldn't imagine it presented any way other than sung, and invented opera thereby.

The real problem is just how much longer it takes to sing words than it does to speak them, even if you except Parsifal. You could probably recite the Shakespeare original twice or thrice while the digested paraphrase is being sung.

I read once that some 17th century Italian came on a Shakespeare work, couldn't imagine it presented any way other than sung, and invented opera thereby.

I haven't heard that one. As far as I can see, the only 17th century Shakespearean operas were British: The Tempest (1674) by various composers, and Purcell's The Fairy-Queen (1692). There were several more in the early 18th century, but the first Italian one seems to have been Ambleto (1706) by Francesco Gasparini.

Did no one else go to Saturday's Otello? Nothing earth-shaking about it, but I thoroughy enjoyed both the singing and the production. The audience at my theater applauded twice, at the intermission break and at the end. They were still applauding when I left.

They applauded at my theater too, at the end. I'd never seen Botha before, and I'm ashamed that my first reaction was "Desdemona fell in love with that tub of lard?" Unkind and childish. His singing won me over, though, but I thought Falk Struckmann's Iago just about stole the show. He was terrific.

My audience applauds every time the Met audience does, just like they were in the theatre. Like Lorna, I was a little put off by Botha's girth. I've seen Domingo do it in a live telecast and seen photos of Venay and Del Monaco, so an overweight Otello is a little off putting at first...but he aced the "Esultate" on his entrance and handled the duet very nicely...I was a tad disappointed in Fleming's Desdemona, I am sorry to say, and any Iago that is not Leonard Warren is just...ok, any BARITONE that is not Leonard Warren is a pale shadow. But I didn't think "Deo en un dio crudel" had the punch it should have. It is, after all, the sililoquy that Shakespeare forgot to write, that makes Iago's actions more credible.

Lorna, I agree about Struckmann's Iago. I don't think I've ever heard such an aggressive "Credo" before; I liked it! It's quite different from the corresponding soliloquy in the play, which is subtle and sly instead of militant. Different media, different treatments.